The Worst Feeling in the World

I woke up to face this day with perhaps the worst feeling ever in the pit of my gut.

This feeling is not because our President elect is open to abortion, gay marriage, legislating from the bench, and so on. It is not because he is friends with a convicted felon and domestic terrorist, or because his house was purchased with the support of another convicted felon under nefarious circumstances. This feeling is not because I know that the plans of the President elect will raise my tax burden - and the tax burden of all people -, or even because he is a pacifist seeking to emasculate the military of the United States by slashing the military budget by 25% or more during a time of war. My feeling did not come from the fact that this man is a confessing Christian who has a foundation of 25 years of teaching under a "pastor" whose message about the "US of KKK-A" are nothing more than a fascist mantra designed to get people to believe in racial power struggles and to hate the governmental system we currently work under. None of these things has caused my angst.

So why do I feel so badly? Because I’m left wondering: Could I have done more.

To me, this truly is the worst feeling, and I do not like it at all. Think of the feeling one might get when a son or daughter is killed because of a tragic accident. You know that it is an accident, but you will always wonder: Could I have done more? I do not want to ever have that feeling again.

Having seen this election fall the way that it did has inspired me not only in politics, but in life - and in my Christian walk. To prevent this feeling I must work hard, knowing that the direction I’m heading is the right one, divinely guided, and always be evaluating my progress and what I have done.

I think we as a nation have gotten away from this. JFK’s famous inauguration speech contained a line, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” We have gotten so far away from that. Our citizenry has come to expect a handout. We are now the entitlement generation. Our political leaders are so far left that socialism is a daily used work now. Our President elect has run his campaign on government spending and a new social agenda that does not empower a people (something that those who lead the 1960’s Civil Rights movement were working for), but rather entitles them, and in the process does not call them to action like JFK’s, RFK’s and the MLK’s before him did, but pushes them into apathy and lethargy.

Could I have done more? This is a question we all need to ask ourselves.

Did you do enough in this lection cycle to see the Christian agenda forwarded? Did you do enough to make sure that not just your vote was cast and counted (shame on you if you mailed in your ballot, it’s just un-American…), and did you do enough to voice your opinion in such a way and to such a people that it may influence their vote towards righteousness and a Godly society?

Outside of politics: Did you do enough in training up your children in the way that they should go? Have you done enough TODAY in spending time in, and meditating on God’s Word, seeking guidance and counsel? Have you done enough in the local grocery store in letting the clerks and employees there that you may encounter that you love Christ and that your life values and morals are based on biblical Christianity?

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we spend our time beating ourselves up for our failures or perceived failures. In my case, the pit in my stomach could have done several things:
It could have caused me to doubt my faith because my prayers and fasting did not (in a temporal fashion that we expect) work to influence the outcome of the elections.
It could have pushed into a position of apathy. Since all this “hard work” did not do anything, why try again.
It could have put me in a catatonic state of inactivity to anything and totally sapped my motivation towards any sort of action, Christian or otherwise.
But instead, it urged me to take stock in myself. It has increased my drive to do more to influence people to Christ and Christianity. It has caused me to more frequently to ask myself, ‘Can I do more?’

We are not called to live in the past. What is done is done, we move forward because of the grace of God no matter what our state of mind or heart. We need to look forward, hands on the plow, never looking back. But to be able to never look back, to ensure that you at least lesson the desire to look back, do all that you can, right now. Commit 100% - to God’s calling in your life, and do all you can to effect this nation, and this world for the Kingdom of God. Work hard enough and dedicated enough that we are less like to ask ourselves, ‘Did I do enough’.

Paul told us to run the race fairly, so that we not be disqualified. But he also told us to run the race as if we were going to win. There are no guarantees in life, save one: If you love God, and have committed your life to Jesus Christ as your savior, you are guaranteed delivery from His wrath, and a call home to be with Him. Run as if you are going to win, and work hard so that you are sure you have done enough.